First Day of My Life
by Heartcore
Summary: Everyone has a day where their life is changed changed completely. Today's is Dr. Reid's. ReidOFC
1. I Want To Save You

A/N: So this is my first ever CM fic and yeah, so please don't judge too harshly. Plus I haven't even watched all of season one yet, but I've watched all of season two. So if I make a few mistakes, feel free to correct me. Anyways, since this is my first CM fic, I hope that no one has used this idea before.

Oh yeah, I don't own Criminal Minds, or any of the characters, or any of the books referenced in the story, or any of the movies referenced in the story, or any of the music referenced in the story. Basically I don't own a damn thing, except for my characters. So enjoy everybody!

Oh BTW, um this is after season 2 altogether. So I'm going to make some assumptions about characters that probably wont or maybe will happen in season 3.

* * *

The sun shined brightly on the busy streets of Washington D.C. It was hard to imagine that this many cars were on the road at this early in the morning. For some people six thirty was early. But not for Dr. Spencer Reid.

He was used to it by now, he had to be. Staying up at al of the hours of the night, waking up at all hours of the morning. That's just some of the benefits being a profiler for the FBI gets you. He was used to the car infested streets, honking anxiously. Before, he used to got to the local Starbucks, sit outside or inside and psychoanalyze random people. He could describe people, know people, without even meeting them. That's what three PhD's get you, psychoanalyzing random people. But that was before.

Dr. Reid has been away from the city for a while. Three months to be exact. Rehab. His boss advised him to go, more or less sent him. It was a good thing he did. Reid had started to show signs of more erratic behavior. He'd lash out at his friends, his colleagues. He stopped eating. He became paranoid. He knew he had a problem, but his lack of will power over powered his common sense. He tried to stop the Dilaudid abuse, but his hunger for it could not be contained.

Rehab made him feel so unintelligent. He knew he had a problem. But his problem wasn't as bad as some of his other acquaintances there. Coke addicts, who had three years of addiction under their belt. Alcoholics with addictions 5, 10, 15, 20 years in the making. And any other addict you can think of was there. But none could fathom a 25 year old, 4Phd holding, Child prodigy, and successful FBI agent doctor being one of them. An addict.

He excelled through it. He was willing to quit. He wanted to quit. he wanted everything to go back to the way it was before.

But nothing could go back to before. Not after his kidnapping, torture, and near death experience. That's what made him who he was. An addict.

Today, however, he wasn't an addict. Today was his first day back to reality. Today was his first day back to work. Today was his first day back to normal. Today was his fresh start. Today was the first day of his life. New life.

And to start off his fresh new start, he needed a cup of freshly brewed coffee.

"I'll have a grande café mocha." He told the girl behind the counter.

"That'll be $3.50 please." She asked. He handed her a 5 and waited for this caffeine intake for the next two or three hours. He grabbed his coffee and walked out of the tiny corner Starbuck. A man and a woman were walking right outside the door, towards the street crossing sign. Until the man turned for the coffee shop. The woman turned.

"Alex, where are you going?" The woman asked anxiously.

"I'm getting coffee." He replied coolly.

"What? You can't get coffee now!" She cried.

"I'll only be a few minutes." Alex said, opening the door.

"Then I'll walk without you." She groaned, rolling her eyes behind her horn-rimmed glasses. She walked forward, not noticing that the street sign was blinking "NO WALK" madly. She started to cross the street. At the same time, a commuter bus was coming right for her. Reid saw this, and didn't know how to react. He yelled for her, but she kept walking. She was only about a foot away from the curb. She still didn't see the bus coming for her. Reid thought quickly, and did what first came into his mind. He ran up to her, grabbed her arm and pulled up to the curb. Almost instantly, the bus flashed by not even a second later.

The woman stumbled back into Reid, losing one of her beaten up black low tops in the process. Her glasses flew off into the street, and her homemade tote bag fell off her shoulder, to the ground.

Reid caught her with his free arm. The woman gasped, and looked up into Reid's deep brown eyes.

"You saved me" She almost whispered. Reid was speechless. She was very beautiful. Her dark green eyes shined brightly in the early morning sun. Her nose was small and round, where her lips were medium sized and naturally pink. Her creamy light beige skin matched perfectly with her long chestnut hair.

She stood up straight, still looking at Reid.

"It was...no..big deal.." He stammered out. She smiled, his legs went to Jell-O.

"It was a big deal, it was a very big deal." She said reaching for her tote bag and low top, "One more second and that bus would have taken my freaking head off." She continued to smile, and Reid attempted to smile back. She reached for her face, but felt nothing there.

"Oh no," she cried, " Oh no, oh no, oh no!". She fell to the ground.

"What? What's wrong?" Reid asked, going to the ground with her.

"I can't find my glasses." She cried, searching the ground. She looked over in the street, and gasped. "Oh no." She exclaimed. She grabbed two pieces of what seemed to be glasses at one point. The middle and lenses crushed to oblivion on the street. She jumped up immediately, when a car flew by. So did Reid.

"I'm sorry" He said sincerely.

"Oh, it's ok. They're just reading glasses, I only wear them for show. Plus I lose my glasses all the time. My nickname back in college was Velma." She laughed weakly.

"Man, people do not know how to make coffee in this town." Alex announced, "What happened to your glasses, Velma?"

"I told you" She said to Reid, "They were run over by a car or a bus" She said angrily.

"Well, here this may cheer you up," Alex handed her a cup of coffee, "My treat."

"Thanks." She said. She started to drink, but, sadly, the lid wasn't secured properly. Dark coffee dribbled down the front of her dark green long sleeve T-shirt. She attempted to wipe it away, but that just made it spread around.

Alex whistled, "Someone's gotta case of the Mondays." She looked up shooting daggers with her eyes, "We should go." Alex stammered.

"Thank you, again." She said sincerely to Reid.

"No problem." He said starting to walk away, towards his usual bus stop.

"Wait!" She called back, "I didn't catch your name?"

"Spencer," He said, "Spencer Reid."

"Well, nice to meet you Spencer." She smiled. She started to walk away, and so did Reid, but turned around and yelled, "My name's Joey!" Spencer boarded the bus heading for Quantico, smiling all the way.

* * *

He was ten minutes late. It wasn't his fault, the bus he was on was randomly searched. But when you're coming back from Rehab, and you're ten minutes late, everyone assumes the worst.

When he reached the BAU headquarters, he hoped no one would notice that he was ten minutes late. But he wasn't counting on it. He got through security, and made it towards his desk. On his desk, was a cheaply decorated, homemade card with everyone's signature, that read "Welcome Back Reid!". He smiled and places his messenger bag next to his chair. He waited to sit down, it's been a long time since he sat in his chair. He took a deep breath and finally sat down. He exhaled deeply.

"You're late." A deep voice said behind him. Reid jumped fifteen feet in the air. He turned around to face Hotchner.

"It's a long story." He sighed, catching his breath. Hotch stared at him with the black profiler stare. "I wasn't doing _that_" Reid said quickly.

"I didn't say you were doing _that._" Hotch said plainly.

"Your eyes did. Don't forget I'm a profiler too."

"Why were you late?" Hotch asked

Reid sighed. "Well, outside of the coffee shop, there was a girl walking out into the street, with oncoming traffic coming from both ways. I grabbed her before she was hit by a bus." Hotch nodded blankly, "Oh yeah, my bus was also randomly searched.".

Hotch continued to stare blankly, as if he were psychoanalyzing him. "I'm clean, Hotch. I'm never going back to that. That Reid is dead." Reid sighed, "I'm clean."

"Welcome back, Reid." Hotch said, walking away.

Reid sat his elbows on his desk and rubbed his eyes. "Today is gonna be a long day" he thought.

"Finally!" cried a woman's voice. Reid looked up. It was Penelope Garcia, coming straight for him.

"Morning Garcia." He smiled.

"Morning Garcia? I haven't seen you for three months and all I get is a 'Morning Garcia?'" Reid smiled, as Garcia threw her arms around him. "God, I missed you so much."

"I missed you too Garcia." Reid replied. Garcia took a seat from a desk nearby, and sat next to him.

"How are you feeling?" Garcia asked.

"Fine. Tired, but fine." He said, "Glad to be back at work."

"That's good." Garcia commented, "Do you like the card I made you?"

"You made this?" He asked, picking up the piece of computer paper.

"I know, it's crap. I would've bought you something better, but my cousin just moved into my apartment."

"It's totally fine, Garcia. It's the perfect thing I need to start the day."

"Well, I'm glad you like it." She said, standing up and walking into her confined computer room.

* * *

The rest of the day seemed to be going as it did before. He'd come to work, learn about a case, delve into the information the team received from the local police department, plan to fly across the country, or stay in town, which ever the case see fit, and not come back until two or three days later.

But the difference about today was, there were no new cases to fluster about. Today had ultimately been one of the longest and most boring days since he could remember.

It was around twelve, when he realized he needed to do something more than just play "Spider Solitaire" all day on his computer. He started wandering around the office, asking anyone and everyone if they needed any help. He even asked the receptionists if they needed help answering the phones. But, everyone else was just as bored as him. The office was unusually quiet.

Just as Reid sat back down at his computer to, once again conquer his game, Garcia approached him.

"Hey, Reid, I'm going to lunch early, you wanna come? I'm meeting my cousin." Garcia asked.

"Um...well.." Reid started. He wanted to get out of the office, he needed to get out of the office, "Ok, I'll go." He agreed, grabbing his bag.

"Good, now you can stop wandering around the office looking pitiful." Garcia commented.

"I did not wander around pitifully. I was merely willing to lend a helping hand." Reid retorted.

"You played Spider Solitaire for five hours. You looked pitiful."

They approached Garcia's car, and hopped in. They started to drive away, towards the D.C area. They reached a small little deli on a local street corner. They walked inside the tiny shop and Garcia looked around for her cousin.

Her eyes landed on a girl standing up, with her back turned, wearing a dark red long sleeve t-shirt, jeans and beaten up black low tops, with her bangs pinned on the top of her head with bobby pins, "There she is." She said, going up to the girl, Reid followed suit., "Joey." Garcia called out.

Now this comment stopped Reid right in his tracks. "Joey?" He asked out loud. The girl turned around, and it was her. The same girl from the morning. The one he saved.

Joey smiled. "Hey, it's my rescuer." She announced. Garcia gave her a quizzical look.

"Rescuer?" Garcia asked

"He saved me from being hit by a bus this morning, no thanks to your lack of caffeine in your apartment." Joey said.

"Joey, I told you a million times, you have to look both ways before you cross the streets here. This isn't Concord." Garcia chastised.

"I know, Penelope." Joey rolled her eyes.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, " Garcia ordered, "Hey, were are your glasses?"

"They were run over by the bus. I guess it was better them, than me." Joey assessed.

"Well, that's fine since they were only reading glasses."

Joey breathed, "Not exactly."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've been wearing those reading glasses religiously for the past two years straight. And when you wear non-prescription glasses for a long time, your vision gets used to the lenses. And I didn't realize this until this morning when I was scheduled to perform a Craniotomy with the head of Neurosurgery on a car crash victim. You can't perform successful craniotomies with poor vision, so the Chief of Surgery sent me home until I can receive proper glasses or contact lenses. Nice way to start my first day at a new hospital huh?" Joey stated hastily. Reid stared. He couldn't believe the beautiful woman in front of him was a doctor. A surgical doctor. She only looked at least twenty or so.

"Wait, you're a doctor?" Reid interrupted. Joey looked up, apparently she forgot of his presence from the lack of conversation coming from him.

"Yeah, over at Georgetown University Hospital." Joey said.

"I don't mean to be rude, but you can't be a doctor." Reid burst out. Joey looked offended.

"Why not?" She asked incredulously.

"Well, it's not that you're not capable of being a doctor, because you are. You just don't look old enough to be a doctor. You don't look old enough to be out of college." Reid stated.

"You're one to talk, Spencer." Garcia scoffed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Does three PhD's ring a bell?"

"Oh yeah..." Joey looked at Reid.

"How old do you think I am, Spencer?" She asked.

"Well...I would estimate...21?" He guessed.

"Close. Three years off." She commented. Reid looked with disbelief.

"18? You're a surgical doctor at 18?" He inquired disbelievingly.

"Yes. Actually the newest Neurosurgical resident at Georgetown. Who also happens to be 18" She nodded smiling.

"How'd..?" He started.

"Well, I grew up in a small town, Hopedale, Illinois. I graduated high school when I was 11. I was accepted into Harvard University, in which my entire family moved with me to Boston. I graduated from Harvard when I was 14. Then, I was accepted into the Harvard Medical School and graduated from there when I was 17. Then Finally, I was accepted into the Harvard intern program from my first year of residency. And I turned 18 about two months ago, around the end of my internship year." Joey told, Reid nodded.

"I should stop. I'm probably boring you to death." She dropped her gaze to the floor.

"No, no. It's very interesting. I'm totally interested." Reid replied, folding his arms on the table, "I noticed that you changed your shirt." Joey looked up questioningly, Reid blushed, "Not that I was purposely noticing your attire. I just...remember from this morning..how you split coffee all over your..." He motioned a hand over his chest, then he stopped abruptly, "I'm gonna stop right now, and try and not look any more foolish than I already do." He stammered. Joey laughed lightly. They looked at each other shyly and smiled. Joey looked away and down at her feet. Reid tore away from his gaze to notice his co-worker.

"Hey," He announced, "Where's Garcia?" Joey looked up, and over to the seat next to her. Her cousin was sitting there before, but she wasn't now. Joey looked over to the counter, and found her distinctive platinum blonde hair among the truckers at the counter. She pointed over to the counter for Reid to see.

Joey laughed, "She must've got tired of us ignoring her."

* * *

Ok it seems slow, at least to me, so if this seems like it's dumb, tell me. Cause yeah, this is my first CM fic after all. If you review, more will come. 


	2. Four Winds

A/N: So I made a little mistake in the first chapter. I wrote that Reid has 4 PhD's; when in all actuality he has 3. So I've fixed that. And thanks to all the people who reviewed, that was pretty badass of you guys to do that. And, it totally sucks that I haven't updated in forever. But the week I wrote the first chapter, I started working on a new musical at school. So that pretty much takes over my life, along with driving late at night at 2:30 in the morning with my friends, freaking out over the ACT and my AP tests, oh and school of course. But you didn't come here to hear me rant. You came to read. Yay for you!

: D

* * *

She was quirky. He liked that most about her. He only knew her for about an hour, and yet he could re-tell her, her life story. Yet she had spoken so little.

"Spencer? Did you hear me?" Joey asked. Reid shook himself, and nodded.

"Yeah, yeah, I totally heard you.." Joey looked amused, "What'd you ask?" Spencer asked shamefully.

"I asked, what does Dr. Spencer 'I day dream in the middle of conversations' Reid do for a living?"

"Well, to put it simply, I'm an FBI agent. I work in the Behavioral Analysis Unit, over in Quantico." Spencer stated. Joey blinked.

"I have no idea where that is." She commented. Spencer laughed.

"It's a little suburb of D.C. Over in Virginia, by the giant Marine Corps base?" Joey shook her head, not fully getting what he was talking about, "Eh, it doesn't matter. Anyways, at said BAU, I analyze the writings, methods and behaviors of Serial killers, rapists, molesters, and arsonists. Basically anything with a 'Serial' in front of it."

"Even numbers?" Joey smiled. Spencer laughed sarcastically.

"Ha ha, very funny. I analyze said people and aid the police in their capture."

"So you're one of those Profiler's, who can tell me my life story without even meeting me?" Joey asked

"Yep" Spencer nodded.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Huh." Joey sighed, she narrowed her eyes, "How am I feeling?". Spencer knew exactly what she was doing. She was testing him.

He sighed, "You are quite anxious and nervous to be in a new city, but you're open to new things. You are putting on a fallacious act of being calm and relaxed, when in all actuality, you've been shaking your leg and the table for the past thirty minutes." Joey instantly stopped shaking her leg and promptly sat on it, "You look to be starving, but you are hesitating ordering food. You're wondering why your loving cousin even chose this place, because it goes against your veganisim beliefs. You are possibly craving a veggie burger or some tofu, but from the looks of this place, the soda doesn't even look meatless." Joey's mouth hung open.

"How'd you know I was a vegan?"

"Well, your bag for one," Spencer pointed to a hand drawn picture of a smiling square that read "Powered by Tofu!", "And by your severe lack of proper nutrition." Her eyes turned hard and her mouth stayed open.

She scoffed, "So, You're job also requires you to be a judgmental observationalist?"

"I'm not judging you. I merely gave you a sample of what I do for a living." Spencer said

"'Severe lack of proper nutrition?' That's not the veganism, that's the 48 hour shifts."

"That did should judgmental, didn't it?" Joey shot a look that screamed, "You don't say".

"_Good going, Spencer. Smooth. First you reference to her chest, then you insult her. Way to make a first impression. Real smooth." _He thought

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." Spencer apologized, clearly frazzled by the situation.

"Dude, it's totally fine. Because I'm a total hypocrite anyways." She smiled.

"Why do you say that?" He asked

"Because, I'm over here judging that hideous sweater vest." She laughed. Spencer blushed. He looked down; his vest was a bland gray with a giant navy blue zigzag in the middle. Pretty friggen hideous in his opinion as well. "Oh, I'm sorry...I'm not...It looks totally fine...But...The..the..." She couldn't stop laughing, people started to look over, "I'm a terrible person." She stopped.

"That's ok." He smiled mischievously, "Just remember the old saying, 'What goes around comes around'."

Joey looked surprised. So did Spencer.

"_Where did that come from?!" _He thought.

"What is that supposed to mean?" She asked.

"Oh, look at the time. We really should get back to work Penelope." Garcia looked up from her food.

"What the hell?" She asked, as Spencer shoved her out the door.

"Wait, what's that suppos-" She was cut off by the door shutting. Joey sat back down and huffed.

"_I'm a terrible person." _She thought, "_That sweater vest was pretty hideous. But he's awfully adorable_." She smiled to herself. Suddenly, a thought hit her. "_I don't remember where I live_." She forgot where her cousin's apartment was. She instantly dialed her cell phone, but was cut off by the angry storeowner. He pointed to a sign that read angrily, "Absolutely no CELL PHONES.".

"And your friend didn't pay for her food." He told. She opened her wallet. The contents included a debit card and three dollars.

"_This is what he meant." _She thought. She took out her debit card. "Do you take Debit?" She asked innocently.

* * *

Spencer instantly fell for Joey. He didn't mean too. It was an accident. But how could he not? He asked himself that question constantly for a week, since their fateful meeting. He loved her witty banter that seemed wise beyond her age. He related to her 'rags to riches' tale, from growing up in a tiny Illinois town in a lower middle class family, to receiving a free ride to Harvard, who basically begged her to attend their school, and to becoming the youngest Neurosugical resident at Georgetown. And it was still hard for him to believe that she was only 18.

But he would never tell her, how he felt about her. Never. Not in a million years. He already attempted to pour his feelings out to another woman, but she just wasn't interested. Besides, she is Garcia's cousin. He ran the risk of never being able to ever reproduce and perform basic body functions again, if he even implied to Garcia, that he liked her. So he pushed her right from his mind, and focused on his job. Or so he tried.

They were becoming better friends as the days passed. He and Garcia meet Joey and Alex for coffee one morning. It was one week after the two new additions moved into the National capital. Joey finally ordered a new pair of glasses, and was donning them that morning. Black cat eyeglasses. Very retro. Reid and Garcia were heading to work. Joey and Alex had just gotten off of a 24-hour shift. This was Spencer's formal first meeting with Alex.

Joey rested her head on the table, physically unable to drink her double shot espresso. Alex was thoroughly retelling the day's hectic events.

"So, I scrubbed in on a heart transplant surgery, for a kid who's been on the waiting list since he was 10."Alex yawned, "He ended up going into cardiac arrest, when one of the intern's took over for Dr. Kanon. The intern froze up, but Kanon saved him in time. The kid, I mean." Joey lifted her head up slightly, "We have a new 007."

Garcia looked perplexed, "007?" she asked.

"Licensed to kill." Alex, Joey and Spencer said in unison.

Joey huffed, "I scrubbed in on a Multiple Subpial Transection on an epileptic patient. It's a very rare and experimental surgery. Dr. Benway offered me to scrub in, since he wanted me to see it first hand. Which only caused discomfort to one of the interns. She saw the board and turned to the other inters and cried, 'Ok, which one of you is sleeping with Benway to scrub in on his surgeries?'. I was standing right there, and couldn't believe she had the audacity to yell that out. In the middle of a surgical ward no less. So I called out, 'I am'. She turned around and immediately apologized." Alex laughed sarcastically, "Were we that bad when we were interns?" She asked. Alex shrugged.

Spencer didn't say a word the entire time. He kept his eyes on Alex. He only knew this man for ten minutes, and he couldn't stand him. Alex had this aurora about him that screamed, total douche bag. He couldn't stand his random tangents, that didn't pertain to anything. He couldn't stand his seemingly arrogant Boston accent. And what bothered him the most, was how he was the better friend with Joey. Oh, how he hated Alex.

Spencer was never the jealous type. Never had anything to be jealous of. He as usually the person people envied, which he never understood. He never envied the Cop from Louisiana who got one step closer than him with JJ. Frankly, the only thing he could remember from that case is the talk Gideon and Him had. But he never had anything to be envious of. Until now.

* * *

Penelope and Alex went to the bathroom, Spencer had approximately two minutes alone with Joey.

"So, how long have you known _Alex?"_ Spencer asked. Joey raised her head, her matted hair falling around her shoulders.

"Since our first year as interns. He moved into the house next door to my parent's house in Boston. We've been though a lot the first year we knew each other. But we've stayed friends, no matter how many times we fought and didn't talk to each other for three months at a time." Alex, unaware of the conversation going on, sat back down next to Joey. He took a sip of his coffee.

"So, how long have you two been dating?" Spencer asked. Alex instantly spit up his coffee. Joey turned to Alex, unable to muster up any facial expression, expressing her disgust at both Spencer's question and Alex's spit up.

"Alex, coffee is dripping from your nostrils" Joey said disgustedly.

Alex breathed, "You think me and her are dating?" Spencer nodded. Joey and Alex looked at each other. The both erupted with laughter.

"He really can't tell?" Alex laughed, "How can he not tell!"

"What's going on?" Spencer asked. Their laughter gradually subsided. Joey leaned forward across the table, closer to Spencer.

"Spencer, what set of parents in their right mind would let there 18 year old daughter move in with a 28 year old heterosexual male?" She asked.

Spencer shrugged, "Very trustworthy ones?". Joey sighed, and leaned back. She looked over to Alex.

"He still doesn't see it."

"See what?" Spencer asked impatiently.

Alex looked right at him and said simply, "Dude, I'm gay."

"_Dude, I'm gay_", Spencer thought to himself, "_Dude, I'm gay." _Never had those words made him feel this relieved and excited at the same time before. "_Dude, I'm gay." _Suddenly Alex wasn't such a bad guy after all.

Penelope came back from the bathroom, and saw the three engaged in a full on conversation.

"Finally decided to talk, did you Spence?" Penelope smiled, slapping his back, "Too bad I have to cut off your conversation, but we do have jobs to keep. I have to keep up with these two's constant energy intake." She looked at Alex.

"Hey, don't bring Sally into this!" He cried throwing up his arms. Spencer looked to Joey, and mouthed "Sally?".

"His tanning lamp." She said.

"Oh."

"Anyways, we should be going. We gotta stop off at the Gas station to get Ester some gas." Penelope stated, referencing to her Convertible, affectionately named 'Ester'.

"Bye you guys" Joey waved. The two waved back, and walked out the door. Alex turned to Joey. Joey turned to Alex.

"Dude, he was totally jealous of me." Alex smiled, "He's totally into you."

"He is not." She blushed.

"Yes he is. Did you see the way he was looking at you? He thinks you're foxy" Alex said excitedly. Joey blushed deeper. Alex looked right at his friend. "You think _he's_ foxy."

"I do not!" Joey cried, blushing, if it was humanly possible, a deeper shade of red.

"Yes you do."

"Alex" Joey groaned, covering her face.

"Hey, I don't blame you. I think the kid's pretty foxy myself." Alex winked. Joey uncovered her face. Her green eyes were hard. Alex interpreted them to say "Hands off".

"Don't worry, he's all yours. Personally, I'm not too into the sweater vest look myself." Alex winked. His eyes settled on a booth, occupying a man reading a newspaper. He had on a tan t-shirt under a black blazer, and he had faux hawk hair. "That look, however, I _am_ into." Alex growled. Joey slapped Alex on the arm.

"Alex, Shut up."

* * *

So that was Chapitre Deux. Hoped you all liked it. BOO DAYLIGHT SAVINGS!!! YAY SPRING BREAK!! 


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